Opera meets football in a musical staging of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch at the Union Chapel from September 21-24. Highbury Opera Theatre was given Hornby’s blessing to create and perform an original production based on his novel about his life supporting Arsenal Football Club. Already dramatised as both a play and a film, the first musical staging of the book was supported by the Arsenal Foundation, which also funded workshops with local schools. Directed by Bernie Byrnes and with music and lyrics by Scott Stroman and Tamsin Collison, the show is a comedy drama, with five actors and 10 musicians. See: www.highburyoperatheatre.com techies

A theatrical tribute to “The Great Stone Face” Buster Keaton is showing at the Hen & Chickens Theatre in Islington tonight (Thursday) and tomorrow. With music and Lyrics by James Dangerfield, When You Fall Down promises “scripted scenes, slapstick, songs and a soft shoe shuffle” as we witness seven days in Buster’s life from his first movie-making experience in 1917 to his signing by MGM 11 years later. Seven songs reveal Buster’s feelings at the various periods in his life, with orchestral arrangements and original instrumentals by Martyn Stringer. Details: 020 7704 2001.

A celebratory dinner party at which the guests are historical, fictional or mythical women who struggled to attain their goals is the focus of Top Girls, a new play at Theatro Technis from September 19-23. Career-driven Marlene throws the dinner party, inviting her stay-at-home mum, sister Joyce and an array of guests from Lady Nijō, a 13th-century concubine who later became a nun, to explorer and naturalist Isabella Bird. Exploring a wide range of subjects including love, politics, class and intellect, Caryl Churchill’s play poses the age-old question to the characters and audience: was it worth it? More details on 020 7387 6617.